Nighttime Hearts
by Dr. DT
Summary: (Post Canon) As new King and Queen of the Tree of Life, Kion and Rani must fulfill a family tradition of Rani's. The King must take his Queen for a night date. Rani is more than excited for such a thing, but Kion... a tad bit nervous.


Kion, still newly crowned king of The Tree of Life, and still getting used to it, woke up with a stir. He was quite nervous about something. Ever since the wedding, when Rani and Kion would walk the kingdom together, the animals would call them 'newly weds' and give them looks that made Kion rather uncomfortable. Rani on the other hand, simply enjoyed Kion's embarrassment. Rani soon explained, in private, that it was tradition at the kingdom for the king to take the queen on a 'Queen's Night Out' to put it simple, a nighttime date. To say Rani was excited was an understatement, being king and queen they have a multitude of duties that all need to be completed within a day, add on to that the occasional fight they must break up. The young queen was more than ready for some quality, and most importantly, alone time with her king. Kion… let's just say, having a nervous breakdown in the corner, to put lightly.

You see, Kion, as hard as it may be to believe was never on a date before and has no experience. Rani hasn't even dropped hints of what she wanted to do. Leaving it all up to poor Kion to come up with a perfect date for Rani. Kion sat at the entrance of the tree overlooking the kingdom. Rani paced up beside him and rubbed his mane.

"Good morning, King Kion." She greeted happily.

"Good morning, Queen Rani." She greeted back, with a slight chuckle.

They liked calling eachtother by their royal names, mainly because Rani is Kion's Queen and vice versa.

"Think of anything for today?" Rani asked, while rubbing her side against kions, and purring lightly.

Kion chuckled and returned the affection.

"I think someone is excited." He teased.

"You have no idea how long I've patiently waited for this, dearie."

"I was thinking we depart towards later evening, they do call it 'Queen's Night Out' for a reason." Kion said.

Rani playfully moaned and pouted.

"Making me wait more?" She called. "You already made me wait two whole days!"

"Well, I want the perfect date for my queen."

The two rubbed their heads together and nuzzled for a few minutes. The two were then called to their royal duties by Makini. The day was uneventful, no trouble was about and the day flew by and into the evening that Rani was oh so excited about. It was when the sun began lowering in the sky she began to get anxious. She would rub against Kion, somewhat impatiently, even while he was briefing the guard to stay extra vigilant as so they won't be interrupted. Once he done so, he rubbed her head.

"Ready?"

"Oh yes! Yes!" She exclaimed.

"Good, follow me."

As they walked side by side, Rani would bump into Kion and ask a question.

"Where are we going?"

"A place."

"What kind of place?"

"A special place."

Rani shoved Kion over, playfully.

"Sorry, you maybe Queen but I can't tell you. It's a surprise."

Rani hummed joyfully.

"It's not like a king to disobey his queen…" She said in a stern-ish tone.

Kion gulped as she turned her head to face his.

"… But I'll let this one slide." She licked his nose, which caused Kion to melt.

Rani giggled at this and flicked her tail under Kion's chin.

"Are you coming? You are leading the way after all."

Kion shook back into his senses.

"U-uh.. yes, coming!"

Kion caught up with Rani and pondered something.

"Do you think it's strange Fuli wasn't with the guard today?"

"Yeah… Not like her at all."

All of a sudden, they heard a male voice call out something. However, being a good distance away from the source, they didn't really understand what it was. The two even wondered if it was English. They trotted over to where the sound came from and stumbled upon Fuli and Azaad under a tree.

"King Kion, Queen Rani" Azaad bowed.

"Hey Kion!" Fuli called.

Kion greeted back.

Azaad raised himself from his bow.

"My queem, I'm in need of your assistance."

Rani smirked.

"You fell again?" She teased.

Kion looked at Rani surprised she keeps teasing Azaad about the fall.

"No, no." Azaad insisted. "Fuli is hotter than the blazing sun!"

Rani's smirk only grew, Kion simply decided to let her have her fun.

"You know Azaad, you can just say she's attractive." Rani said.

Fuli shot around to glare at Rani.

"Rani!" She exclaimed.

Azaad kept a straight face, despite all the teasing.

"I do admit she is very good looking…"

"AZAAD NOT IN FRONT OF THEM!" She yelled at him, attempting in vain to hide her crimson cheeks.

"…But that's beyond the point, Fuli is sick, a burning fever!"

Kion watched Fuli stand up to argue, but Azaad bumped her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

"Okay… maybe a tad but feverish." She admitted, half-heartedly.

Rani's ears lowered, her smirky smile faded quickly.

"Oh Fuli… I'm so sorry… I'm afraid I'm still learning, I'm not of any help as of now."

"That's quite understandable my Queen, thank you for your concern, however." Azaad bowed once more.

"Sorry Fuli." Rani apologized once more.

Kion deciding it was time to take Rani to their special spot and distract her from being down about not being able to help Fuli.

"Rani, we should get going if we want to make it before sundown." Kion said, while bumping Rani's side.

It seemed to have done the trick, her face lit back up.

"Oh, yes. We should." She said. "You can rest in the Tree of Life if you wish, Fuli."

"Thank you, but I'm perfectly fine here."

Kion and Rani bounded off, walking faster than before their interaction with the two cheetahs.

"At this rate, we might have a wedding to arrange, huh?" Rani told Kion.

"Yeah." Kion laughed. "They are inseparable."

"Oh, you're one to talk my king." Rani got closer to Kion so their sides were touching.

Kion faced ahead to try and hide his cheeks.

"Almost there." He said, trying to distract his inner thoughts.

Rani grinned with excitement and hummed a familiar tune. Kion didn't normally like the tune, but when Rani sung or hummed it, it felt special to him. This was one of those times. As she hummed she nuzzled into the crest of Kion's neck. He nuzzled back short a short moment before exclaiming that they have arrived.

They had arrived at their spot. It was a cliffs edge overlooking a vast valley, with a view of the sun that shunted the view from the Pridelands. Rani gasped and her jaw dropped in pure amazement.

"K-Kion, where did you find a place like this?" She asked.

"Oh… pays to have two birds on your team."

"Wow…" Rani gasped. She sat down, Kion following soon after. "I lived in these lands all my life and never stumbled upon a place like this."

Rani let herself fall into Kion's body. Taking in the orange and red streaks across the sky. Each second the sun grew lower in the horizon and the colors more vibrant. Rani was in awe, Kion watched peacefully, grinning.

"Watching sunsets as been my favorite thing as a cub." Kion said. "I thought I would share this special moment with you."

Rani nuzzled Kion as close as she could, absorbing his warmth. Kion noticed how red Rani's cheeks were getting and nudged her side.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"Oh, I should tell you. My family has one more weird tradition… it ties into this one, somewhat."

"What's so bad about it that has you all flustered up."

Rani cocked her head to the side.

"Well… It's a tradition new kings and queens are to do on the night of 'The Queen's Night Out'."

Rani saw the red flare up on Kion's cheeks.

"I-if you don't want to I understand!"

Kion was silent.

"It... it supposed to happen after the sun falls behind the earth." Rani said quietly.

They watched the sunlight slowly grow dimmer as each minute passed. Now, Kion was nervous beyond belief. Was Rani really asking thing of him? Will he satisfy her? The last seconds ticked down and the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Soon after, it's light followed suit.

"Kion, do you want…"

"Yes, I'm ready, my queen." Kion said suddenly, causing Rani's cheeks to flare up.

"Are you sure?" Rani looked into Kion's eyes.

"I'm sure."

Rani licked his cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Rani stood up to find a small patch of grass, Kion gulped deeply as she walked by. She found a soft spot in the tall grass and layed on her back. Kion smiled lovingly, he was ready…

They soon found themselves panting, out of breath and exhausted. They lay next to each other in the tall grass. Kion rolled to face Rani, who in turned rolled to face him.

"You know, of all the strange traditions your family has… a tickle fight was the last one I was expecting."


End file.
